Tensions in Iran decreasing as executions cancelled, US holds off strikes: Tharoor

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 17 (PTI) Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday said tensions were decreasing in Iran as the authorities have cancelled over 800 executions and US President Donald Trump has decided to hold off any strikes for the moment.

Tharoor said that these were hopeful signs that there may be a dialing down of the tensions.

He said that evacuations were happening, and the cancelling of executions and the US holding off strikes were "good signs".

The MP from Thiruvananthapuram said the other Gulf region countries would want calm and order in the region as refugees from Iran would cross over to their nations.

"There is also probably some anxiety about the geopolitical implications of allowing the situation to spiral out of control. So my gut feeling at the moment is we may have turned a corner. We'll have to see as we are not recipients of 100 per cent accurate information," Tharoor said.

Regarding the situation in Gaza, Tharoor said the peace there has entered the "second phase", but the attacks are still continuing.

"People are still dying in Gaza every day. There are headlines coming out of there. So, it's not peace for everyone, yet. Secondly, we still don't have any accurate word about the progress in the so-called disarmament of the Hamas outfit.

"Hamas has so far said they will not disarm, but they will hand over authority to a technocratic council. I think all I can say is we'll have to watch and wait. It's an extremely tense situation. It is by no means a normal, tranquil peacetime situation yet," he told reporters here.

Asked about the situation in Venezuela, Tharoor termed it as "curious" as the regime there was continuing without any change despite the removal of the head of the government -- President Nicolas Maduro -- who was captured by US forces.

The Congress MP said it was an "unusual situation" in that country, the likes of which no one has seen in the recent history of the world.

"So, it is literally a decapitation but not a change of regime, it's the same regime that's continuing," he said.

Tharoor said that the change of government was brought about without any talk of democracy, human rights or any of those usual things as the US President has openly said it is about the country's oil reserves.

"The only area that the Americans have asserted control over is Venezuelan oil and American oil companies and so on. We'll have to see how this plays out," the Congress MP said. PTI HMP ROH